A spell of four goals in 15 first-half minutes laid the foundations for Timsbury Athletic’s 6-2 home win against Yatton and Cleeve United in the Somerset County League Division 1. There could have been a lot more goals in a game full of chances but it ended on a sour note when skipper and influential midfielder Ellis Hancock was sent off 10 minutes from time.
Timsbury took the lead after 13 minutes when Rhys Cook found space for himself in the area and hit a fine left-foot shot past Emrullah Kahya in the visitors’ goal. Callum Taylor and Cook then headed over the bar for Timsbury while Sam Morris was just too high with a good effort for Yatton and Cleeve.
The home side increased their lead after 23 minutes when Jem Lutwama latched on to a through ball to shoot past Kahya. Another fluent home move saw Cook shoot wide before Hancock increased Timsbury’s lead with a superb shot into the top corner of the net. Still the goals kept coming with Lutwama heading the home side’s fourth before James Bird pulled a goal back for the visitors on the half-hour. Kahya was kept busy saving well from Matt Brooks and Jesse Bishop while Taro Viner headed wide for Yatton and Cleeve.
Just one minute into the second half Timsbury went 5-1 up through Hancock and almost immediately Cook had the ball in the net again but was ruled offside. Alex Bird hit back for the visitors with a cracking shot after 56 minutes to make it 5-2 and he almost had another soon after but this time was just too high.
A defence-splitting pass from Chris Midgley then gave Lutwama a great opportunity to grab his hat-trick but this time his shot went the wrong side of the post. It was left to Cook to add Timsbury’s sixth. Standing in an offside position the ball was diverted to him by a visiting defender and he made no mistake with the good fortune. Cook then shot wide with another clear chance before Hancock was given his marching orders for a tackle that gave referee Mason Bean few options.
Star Man Toby Neilson (Timsbury Athletic)
Malcolm Tucker